Padtwo

I meant to add I don't think you'll be disappointed with either of them

I have the heritage 130P and am quite happy with it, but one of the weak points is the focusser. Here I think the Bresser has the better option of the two, and also a sturdier spider holding the secondary mirror. For me the Bresser would win on the focusser and stray light due to the closed tube, the heritage 130P would win on storability as it folds down (which is what mattered to me). Assuming the optics are similar in both of them.

Very nice, hope you enjoy and get some clear skies!

Did you have any luck getting it working?

Exactly what I was going to suggest. Try it in the daytime, it's good practice and will teach you about finding objects and focussing, especially as everything will be inverted! Also make sure the secondary mirror isn't completely out. The large mirror is the primary and the smaller mirror suspended in front of the focuser is the secondary. If the secondary is facing the wrong way then you wont get any light into the eyepiece from the primary. If you look down the focusser tube without an eyepiece you should see the secondary mirror just in front of you.

I would have a go with the supplied eyepieces first and see how you get on. My first scope came with a 20mm and 6mm and my first upgrade was a 32mm and 15mm plossl. They were definitely a step up from the provided eyepieces but the 32mm was most useful when I was trying to find things as you see a much larger area of sky compared to a 20mm. Then once you have found what you want to look at and centered it, swap over for a stronger eyepiece. I also found it helpful to practice with it on terrestrial objects during the day first. Because of the way the scope works the image is inverted, so left becomes right etc, and it can take a bit of practice to work out how much to nudge it and which way to keep things in view. A bit strange when you are looking at tv aerials and chimneys, but not so much of an issue when looking at a planet or moon! It would also be worth setting up the red dot finder during the day as well on a distant object. Nice choice of telescope, enjoy

I have just managed to get my hands on a 7mm nirvana and really appreciate the wider field of view., but you are looking for something inbetween 32mm and 8mm. Maybe the nirvana range might be worth investigating, the 16mm is widely praised but with the 32mm and 8mm and a 2x barlow you would be doubling up on magnifications, so I would suggest the 13mm nirvana, or 12mm bst

Sorry, that's a 5, 8, 12 BST and a 30 or 32mm plossl

As mentioned I would probably go with a 30 or 32mm plossl and although I've been tempted by the 3.2mm BST, having used the 5mm that would be enough for me (to my eyes there was a noticeable drop in clarity between 7mm and 5mm in a heritage 130p) so I would probably stay away from the 3.2. If you were to go with a 5, 8, 12, and 30 or 32 that would give you 150x, 94x, 62.5x and either 23 or 25x. If you were to then add a 2x barlow at any point these would double up to 300x, 188x, 125x and 46 or 50x, which would be nice range of magnifications

I have had some of my best views with a 9mm circle t ortho, but have recently got myself a 7mm Nirvana which is looking promising. The world of 82 degree apparent FOV is an inviting one!

Another vote for the 130P here. I have a smaller 76mm relfector which was my first telescope which got me hooked, but the 130P shows so much more. I also have a budget refractor but struggle to get on with the mount regarding vibration and adjustment, so my main goto scope is the 130P. To be honest, given the funds, I would probably now go for the 150P as it wasn't out when I got the 130 and you'd get even better views, but then it is also a little bigger and heavier, especially when you are 10 years old. I've also bought a small stool from IKEA which fits the base perfectly, think it might have been the Kyrre. I would keep your eyes peeled for a second hand one and fingers crossed

Brilliant thank you! I went out for the first time with a circle t ortho at the weekend and was quite blown away at how sharp it was. Looks like I managed to find the Alpine valley, by accident, but have since been trying to find a nice zoomable picture of the moon to see what it was I'd seen! So, many thanks for the link, and the information on the various valleys

I saw a bright flash to the left of orions belt on Saturday night, not the meteor in question as I believe that was Sunday, but it did finish off quite a productive Saturday in general nicely!

Thank you for this post. As a beginner I have managed to pick up a 9mm circle T eye piece as a first foray into orthos which was my main reason for reading the post. Just got to practice with it as I've got used to eye cups and it feels a bit strange without one! However I've now realised I was also looking at the Montes Jura and saw the jewelled handle effect as well. Off to read up on the geography of the moon some more....

I also have a 130P heritage. The first two eyepieces I got were the 32 and 15mm celestron omnis. A big step up over the supplied eyepieces in terms of clarity. I now also have a 9mm circle t ortho and a 5mm bst. The bst gives the darkest image which is to be expected given the size of the exit pupil and I also have a little trouble getting a really sharp focus with it but I suspect that may be down to the focuser (ptfe tape modification due soon) or getting close to the scopes limit and seeing conditions, but will keep practising with it! Not had a chance to try the circle t at night yet! I would say having got the 5mm bst, maybe the 8mm might be better suited to the scope. But also pleased with the 32mm and 15mm omni. I didn't want to go below 10mm with a plossl due to short eye relief.

It's also well worth having a look during daylight hours at things you can see so you can get an idea of how the scope moves relative to the image. The image you see will be inverted you are looking at a reflection which can also be a bit confusing at first. I got a 32mm celestron plossl last year and that showed me a lot more sky than my existing eyepieces, the 20mm and 6mm that came with the scope. I always start with the lowest magnification eyepiece (32mm in my case, 30mm in yours) and centre what I want to look at. Then increase the magnification centring the object in each eyepiece as I go.

Thank you for the replies. Exit pupil is something to think about and I'm tentative about a higher power ortho as although I don't need glasses at the minute, it might not be long. Plus I enjoy showing others what you can see and they need glasses. So I think a 5mm bst with a bit of eye relief may be the way to go, thank you.

I have a flextube 130p and am looking for a couple more eye pieces. Those I have are the 32mm and 15mm celestron omnis and a 9mm circle T. I also have the Baader Q turret barlow. From my calculations that would give me approximately 20x, 43x, 72x and 46x, 98x and 163x with the barlow (without taking it apart to get the 1.3 mag). I would like something in the 130x range and also something to get me in the 200x range. Eye relief although not necessarily a problem would be nice to have and my interest is initially planets, then moving onto dsos. My dilemma is if I go for a 5mm which would give me 130x, with the barlow it would be too much, so a 7mm would barlow up to 209x but would give me 93x which I've pretty much for covered already, which would leave me with a 6? Alternatively a 12mm would fill a couple of holes and then a higher power piece to be used in its own. (probably a wide angle one as I'm finding these things move quite quickly at higher mags!) I've been looking at the star guiders, xcel lx, nirvana and slvs so far. Any help or ideas would be much appreciated

Another vote here for the 130P flextube. I managed to find mine second hand for a very good price and have been very happy with the views. As mentioned stay away from anything that's main selling point is magnification. Telescopes are essentially a tube of differing designs on a mount. The tube on its own is often referred to as an OTA but then you would need a mount to go with it. The other rather essential thing you need are eye pieces, and it is these that you can choose your magnification with. Going back to my point about magnification, a manufacturer could put a cheap and nasty high magnification eye piece in with a not so good scope and claim huge magnifications to sell it. But you would only see a very dark, very small blurry blob if anything! The flextube as mentioned comes on a dobsonian mount which is very easy to set up, you just need something to put it on. It is easy to store because it collapses down and with the right eye piece should be good for magnifications up to approx 260x but more sensibly 200x. (I've been quite happy looking at Jupiter and its moons at around 100-130x) It's also not too heavy to move around. Add in the mirror is supposed to be pretty good in it and you've summed up the reasons I went for one. Something else. I initially found finding things looking through it a bit tricky. Because there is a mirror, or two, involved the image is inverted and it can take a bit of practice to get used to moving it around to see things. I practised on things during the day when I could see what I was looking at to get a feel for it and I also asked for some other eye pieces as presents. I was recommended a 32mm plossl and although it is a low magnification it means I can see a lot more sky and get what I want to see in the centre of the image. Then I change to a more powerful eye piece once I've found it. Patience is important! Good luck and glad to hear your daughter is interested in these things.